


With or Without you

by eatapeachallday



Category: Impractical Jokers
Genre: Blues, F/M, Lost Love, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 05:34:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8477269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatapeachallday/pseuds/eatapeachallday
Summary: Don't know where this came from. Just feeling a little like this one today. Hope you enjoy.





	

He knew she would be here. Every fucking time. The eighties pop and rock hits, one after another and another blared out from the tinny huge vibrating speakers positioned all around him as he sat cradling his one and only beer of the night. He tried to concentrate despite the noise. He sat in the dark booth and watched her. Dark eyes following the vibrant laughing girl out there in the very middle of the lit up dance floor. Like she fucking owned the place. Confident.Always had been amazingly confident. She or her friends hadn't spotted him and were unlikey to. She never had before and he liked his chances with getting away with it again tonight. She'd changed her hair colour again. Bright pink. He liked it. It suited her. It matched her personality. Perfectly. If ever a child could be born with rainbow coloured hair it would have been her. He smiled to himself despite the swelling undercurrent of hurt in his gut. It came and went. These days it came less and less. When he found that happening that's when he'd make this trip out to this very place. To remind himself of the pain. Remind himself of her.

" Bri."  
" Yeah?"  
" Wanna go dancing?"  
" Nope."  
"C'mon. Let's go! Me and you. It'll be fun. And you know what that leads to.." Her sky blue eyes searching his face as she tried to talk him round.  
And him not even looking up from his games as he knocked her back. Again.  
"You go. Go out with the girls. Enjoy." 

He'd lost count of the number of times they'd had variations of that exact same exchange. By the end of things they had barely even been talking. Couldn't remember the last words they had spoken to each other, but he knew they had been bad ones. Heated with both of their anger. He was still angry. Only now it was at himself for his downright fucking stupidity.  
He preferred to think of how they met and their first three years. If he closed his eyes he could still see her, clear as day, her then long black hair with red highlights. The flirty wink in his direction and then her loud unhibitited laughter as she literally fell at his feet thanks to her new skyscraper high heels which she never managed to walk in. He had helped her up and she had brazened it out despite the obviously twisted ankle. He had taken her for a drink, to ease the pain and the rest was history. Yeah the first three years. They were good. He chose to try and forget the last one. The one where he lost himself for a while and she tried to help him, to find him.To reel him back in as he had flung himself overboard. He hadn't wanted to be found, to be caught, and eventually she had to cut the line and let him go. 

She danced. And danced. Whitney, Madonna, Janet, her friends moving in time with her. Looking to her to lead as they always had. She was the centre. Always had been. He'd gravitated to her the same way. She had pull. A force to her that had held him steady. For a while. They danced so long, and so energetically it made him feel tired. She drank beer , did shots, and laughed. She held the guy in the black shirt and he held her. Brian wished he was a dancer but knew he wasn't. Guess he never really had been. He'd tried at the start, for her, but his dancing shoes were hung up. For good. Finishing up his drink he waited for his opportunity. Finally she kissed black shirt and headed for the restrooms. He grabbed his jacket and made his exit. He'd refreshed his pain. Taken his trip back down memory lane. Hopefully it would get easier again now. At least for a little while. As he moved quickly through the now dispersing crowd, the last song of the night was starting. Classic U2. 

 

Emerging from the cubicle she found Erica standing directly outside flapping her arms up and down. Her signature excited move. It made her look like a dork. But an adorable one.  
" You ok?"  
" You will never fucking believe who I think I've just seen!!!! "

Leaving a few minutes later she scanned the block outside the club. She could see Erica doing the same.Seeing only other weary club leavers, she smiled at her friend, who shrugged her shoulders, and turned her still smiling face back to Ricky. He looked so good in black.  
" Ready for bed?"  
" Absolutely." He dropped a kiss on her waiting lips.  
They stopped at the edge of the sidewalk to allow the lone car, a red Jeep Wrangler to speed past them and then stepped off and crossed the road to head home.


End file.
